BLOOMFIELD HILLS, United States (AFP) - America came out charging as they attempted to stage the biggest comeback in Ryder Cup history here.
Trailing Europe 5-11, Tiger Woods led the charge, rushing quickly to a two-hole lead over English rookie Paul Casey.
US captain Hal Sutton admitted that he needed a quick start to have any chance.
"We`ve got our work cut out," said Sutton, who insists the Americans can still win.
"I believe in my heart they can," he said. "These guys are capable. I can tell you one thing about match-play, once it starts swinging one direction it seems to swing for a while."
Europe need only three points to retain the trophy and 3 1/2 to win outright. The US face trying to capture a massive 9 1/2 points.
And with Davis Love two-up over Darren Clarke, Phil Mickelson two-up over Sergia Garcia, Jim Furyk dominating David Howell, ahead by four after only seven holes, and Kenny Perry, two-up over Lee Westwood, the American dream was still alive.
The first bright news for a struggling Europe came from their Ryder Cup hero, Colin Montgomerie.
A birdie at the first saw the burly Scot go one-up over David Toms and put some European blue on the scoreboard to break up the mass of red that had the 40,000 patriotic American fans roaring their approval.
Sutton put his team out in the order they qualified for the Cup while European captain Bernhard Langer mixed and matched.
"I think he exactly did what he should have done," said Sutton. "He`s kind of spread everyone out. He`s got strength in all areas.
"He had a nice luxury when he was doing this. He`s got a large lead. He`s structured it nicely."
Before the first match teed off, a confident Langer said he was convinced his team can end the match early.
"I expect from my team to be totally focused, to go out there and play the way they have been playing all week and I think they are going to win about five or six points and that would be fantastic.
"I`m pretty sure and convinced that out of the first three matches, I`d be very surprised if we don`t get two points."
Langer is banking on the overall strength of his team to clinch victory.
"We have more depth on our team than we probably ever had before. We might not have the superstars who won all of the majors in the `80s, early `90s. But we have great players.
"We have far more depth. I could have brought 18 players over here, or 20, and we would have looked pretty good and that just shows how strong the European Tour has become over the last 15, 20 years," said the German.
Langer has stressed to his team that while the American players are by far the stronger of the two sides on paper, the reality is different.
"I told them there`s nothing to be sacred of, they are every bit as good even though on paper they might not be. But paper can burn up in a second. It means nothing," he said.